More tullytownnews.com signs removed

Wednesday

Two more tullytownnews.com signs went missing on Tuesday, just weeks after the battle over the messages about the political information site landed in federal court.

The signs disappeared a few days after Lawrence Otter, the attorney who is representing borough residents that maintain the site, received a warning from Tullytown Council solicitor Michael Sellers.

The newspaper has obtained a copy of the email Sellers sent last week to Otter. In it, the solicitor said the signs would be taken down in 72 hours because they were within the newly implemented 35 foot right-of-way along roads that run through the borough.

“Other owners of temporary signs similarly located are likewise being advised, where identified,” Sellers said in the email. “After that, enforcement will be carried out uniformly as to all signs in violation, to meet the policy objectives.”

In response to the warning, Otter said he had the tullytownnews.com representatives use a tape measure to make sure the signs leading into the Levittown Town Center were more than 35 feet from the right-of-way. He also directed them over the weekend to take pictures of the signs’ revised locations.

The signs were in place Tuesday morning, but had been removed by the afternoon.

The newspaper was unsuccessful Tuesday in its attempts to reach borough officials to find out what happened to the tullytownnews.com signs.

It’s just the latest twist in the case of the political signs that began in September 2012. It started just before the annual Tullytown picnic when council Vice President May Kucher removed some of the signs that had been placed along town roadways. Kucher is a frequent target of the web site.

A majority of borough council members agreed this past spring to use town funds to cover her legal expenses after former Councilman George Fox filed suit against Kucher. The council made the move after the council vice president said she removed the signs acting in an official capacity with the borough.

In May, District Judge Michael Burns ordered Kucher to pay a civil judgment of $60 for two missing signs and $95 in fees and other costs related to the suit.

Town officials agreed to fight the ruling, and then legal counsel for the borough requested that the case be moved from county court to United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

It’s eligible for federal court because the case involves potential constitutional-related questions about a government body, Otter said.

The attorney said he has been trying for the last few weeks to try to reach a settlement in the case so the borough can avoid paying more money to cover legal fees.

The new missing signs are not helping the issue, Otter said.

“I am doing my best to amicably resolve this, but Tullytown is doing its best to screw up the deal,” the attorney said.

A majority of council members voted July 9 to make the right-of-way 35 feet, although most right-of-ways are 10 to 15 feet, according to Otter.

The governing body’s solicitor said a majority of council members approved the 35-foot right-of-way because the signs obstruct drivers’ views, become litter when knocked down by the wind and could endanger workers trying to mow grass. In addition, “many people also find them an unattractive feature of any community,” he said.

Fox on Tuesday questioned Sellers assertion that the ordinance was being carried out in a fair and balanced manner because other signs remained on the sides of the roadways after the tullytownnews.com signs had been removed.

Sellers declined to discuss the ongoing lawsuit surrounding the political signs, because it is now being handled on the borough’s behalf by Philadelphia-based attorney Wendi Darish of Weber Gallagher Simpson Stapleton Fires & Newby LLP.

Darish also declined Tuesday to comment on the pending litigation.

Otter, however, was willing to weigh in on the case where he believes his clients’ constitutional rights are being violated.

“In my humble opinion, if we play it out in federal court, it will be dead on arrival, because I can win a summary judgment on this,” the attorney said on Tuesday.

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